I Might Be In Love With Mable
Good Books & Board Games — Writing, Reading, Blogging, Gaming…
There’s always a snatched corner of time for the pen
When I saw this question — What is your focus during May? — I wanted to leap right on it and share what just landed on me. Because what just landed on me is something quite wonderful.
It’s MABLE!
And it was love at first sight for me. My spouse knows the signs.
“I’ve lost you to MABLE, haven’t I?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so, but only till Autumn. Are you ok with that?”
“Oh yes, I’ve plenty to do in the garden.”
But here’s the thing. I want to tell you all about MABLE, but if I can’t find time for family, where will I find time to write? Silly question — Ha! You know how it is with writers. There’s always a snatched corner of time for the pen. Hell, I wrote several novels on trains while commuting between jobs a decade or so ago. I’m not sure a single sentence of Buried Deep was written at a conventional desk and I always said the cover was a picture of me trying to escape the avalanche of work coming in.
I digress — isn’t it odd how there’s always time for digression? I wonder … but let’s not digress into digression or we might never emerge.
MABLE!
Mable is a Massive Autumn Book Launch Event and I’ve volunteered to help. Well… to be accurate, I found out that I’d been volunteered to help at the same time I found out about MABLE. But I would have volunteered had I been given the chance.
Do You Like Blogging About Books & Authors?
One of the really good things I volunteered for is to interview (e-interview) the authors and write about them. If you’d like to interview any or all of the MABLE authors and blog about them and their books over the summer, read on.
MABLE will launch 5 brand new books and spotlight another dozen or so. This is partly to shine a light on books that came out during the heights of the covid pandemic when people’s attention was justifiably elsewhere. It also brings some best-selling authors into the mix to help lift all the titles.
… the better the book, the harder the job …
I can now say that I know every one of the books. It’s been a struggle. Some I’ve had to reread to reacquaint myself with the detail — including A Bookkeeper’s Guide to Practical Sorcery, whose author I’ve already interviewed for my blog — watch this space and prepare to learn some pretty cool stuff about the linings of wizards’ hats.
How To Read A Book That Doesn’t Exist
The new MABLE launch books aren’t out yet, but in return for helping to organise MABLE, I got advance reading copies of three of them. The other two, I’d already read, in my role as freelance copyeditor — and oh my, was that a difficult task! Here’s a secret about copyediting — the better and more error-free the book, the harder the job becomes. When you’re copyediting, there is no room to be swept away in the story because that’s when you read over typos and miss anomalies. And it’s not just typos we’re looking for — it’s every punctuation point, and is it correct … are we working with house style for UK or US English … does the chronology work … when a character says “it happened two days ago,” was it 2 days, or was it the same morning but 2 chapters ago? Being an author as well as an editor I know how easy it is to get tangled in what-happened-when.
A Tip For Copyeditors
When the book proves to be especially good, just give in, sit back in an armchair, read and enjoy it. Then do as I do, heave that satisfied sigh of emerging from a good read, put on your stern copyeditor hat, and start again at the beginning. I did that for both the books I copyedited, so it’s taken me some time to get through them.
Now, I’ve not only read all the books, I’ve started grabbing e-interviews with the authors so I can blog about them. I can concentrate on one fun topic per blog because another of the authors, Stuart Aken — who has a far greater blog following than me — is doing full features on participating MABLE authors so I can concentrate on those interesting questions that pop up when you read a book:
Whatever happened to…? Did that happen for real or did you make it up? Why did…?
I’ve already had some answers — some real pearlers amongst them — and this brings me onto another aspect. Although none of my books are featured (boohoo) the latest from Melodie Trudeaux is in the mix (hurrah), as it came out during the raging pandemic. Melodie Trudeaux is of course my alter-ego.
What’s Going to Happen During MABLE and Why You Should Be There
MABLE will run from mid-September to the end of October. As well as book launches and spotlights, it will have competitions and giveaways, interviews & discussions, interactive events, a prize draw, and all sorts of gaming — one of the launch books is a “book of the game” novel.
I believe there will also be something for writers who have an unpublished novel looking for a home — I don’t have details of this one but if it follows the sorts of things they’ve done before, it might be an invitation to send in an extract during the event and have the Fantastic Books editors look over it. Given that demand outstrips supply when it comes to editorial time, if they run this one, it will be first come first served.
The best way to get advance notice of what’s happening and when it’s all set to happen is to interact with the event page — mark yourself as interested or definitely going. The event page is linked from the MAIN MABLE PAGE HERE.
The Launch Books — Diversity In Action!
It’s May, and MABLE won’t happen until September, so it will be a while before you can find the launch books on the landing page, but they’re a beautifully diverse set — something for everyone. Here’s my version in the form of a brief tour so you know what’s coming:
CON by Mark P Henderson — a glimpse behind the scenes of the men’s prison system in Scotland woven around a psychological drama. This guy knows what he’s talking about, not that he’s done a prison stretch himself but he worked in prisons as a teacher. It wasn’t his main job and that kept him from being on one side or the other, so he seems to have been able to converse freely with prisoners and prison officers alike. The story’s gripping anyway, but I also found the insights about prison life particularly fascinating.
KILLING O’CAROLAN by Walt Pilcher — if Walt Pilcher’s brand of humour is your thing, you’ll love this one. I’ve been a fan of his for several books. In this one, his reluctant private detective Mark Fairley is out and about again, because someone, inexplicably, is targeting poets in Greensboro, NC and of course, poetic justice must be served.
FIZZY DAYS & PLASTIC MONKEYS by Mark Millicent — an autobiographical debut. This is one man’s story of his journey from small-town England (where he fitted tyres for a living — sometimes in gruesome conditions) to Hollywood to chase a dream to become a filmmaker. It’s a rollercoaster ride of someone determined to succeed, with some hair-raising escapades along the way.
AS LONG AS WE REMEMBER by Kae — a debut space adventure set in the world of the action-adventure video game, Starbound. Fantastic Books specialises in books-of-the-game, having already published several Elite: Dangerous and Lords of Midnight tie-ins. I know nothing about Starbound, and I had no idea how closely or not the book followed the game, but it swept me along with the main character’s quest.
DREAD COLD — this is an anthology of horror stories whose publication was delayed by the covid pandemic. It includes the winners and shortlist of a 2019 horror short story competition along with invited authors. The competition began with an image — which will be on the book cover — that the authors used as their starting point. To say they began in the same place, they managed to range far and wide in search of horror tales.
And The Spotlight Collection!
“all teeth and eyes”
I’ve had a wonderful time reacquainting myself with old favourites because if I’m to throw myself headfirst and wholeheartedly into MABLE — and believe me, I am — then I need to know the books backwards.
I mentioned earlier that I will be blogging about these books, but I have also volunteered my alter-ego Melodie Trudeaux to do likewise. This means she can concentrate on the animals. Animals often appear as walk-ins in books that otherwise focus on people and we never quite get to know what happens to them.
Do you find yourself wondering about these things at the end of a book or film — What happened to that cat who appeared at the window … That incident with the bear, could it have been based on fact … Is it a long apprenticeship to become a harvester of discarded dragonfly wings? — Melodie Trudeaux wonders about this stuff for sure. So although few of these books have animals in lead roles, Melodie has delved deep and intends to get the answers to these obscure corners of the various adventures.
Here, through the lens of Melodie Trudeaux’s obsessions, are the Spotlight Books.
In A BOOKKEEPERS GUIDE TO PRACTICAL SORCERY by Kate Russell, the reference to the lining of wizards’ hats was fleeting. The point was poor Henry, forced to grow up far too quickly, and with an obnoxious younger brother to contend with — and all manner of troubles brewing. But no, Melodie had heard that reference to wizards’ hats and she needs answers.
Sometimes unlikely groups of people are temporarily thrown together — as in AN EXCESS OF by Stuart Aken — then disaster turns those temporary circumstances into something long-term. The book shows us just how the people cope (and how they don’t). In fact, the potential tensions start to spark right from the off. But Melodie knows there were animals on that ship and she wants to know more.
In GRAVITY’S ARROW by Jack Mann, we see the reality of a family suddenly displaced and forced to run at a moment’s notice. It’s all the more stark that we see it through the eyes of 12-year-old Fhiro who has had looming disaster kept from him. They can’t even take the bird with whom they have a special relationship, nor can they ever know what happened to her. But for her own peace of mind, Melodie has demanded answers.
HORSE OF THE SAME COLOUR by Melodie Trudeaux is a conundrum for a blog. She can’t interview herself. But I guess I can ask how she thought up the surprisingly down-to-earth solution to one of children’s literature’s most abiding secrets.
Here’s a spooky angle. There are very few animals in PERILAUS II by Mark P Henderson, but Melodie notes with alarm that whenever they appear, trouble brews. It can’t be a coincidence, can it, not considering the state of mind of protagonist Doug Carmichael? This, by the way, is the prequel to the launch book, Con.
If you’re a fan of Anne McCaffrey’s books, particularly her dragons of Pern, you’ll love the SHADEWARD series by Drew Wagar, and Melodie is spoilt for choice for what direction to explore in relation to the animals of Esurio. She couldn’t whittle it down to one so she’s asked about both the carns and the dachs.
In a world ravaged by climate change, with a young woman barely escaping the Reapers, only to find herself on the run from something worse, Melodie leapt upon the sub-theme that runs through STORM GIRL by Linda Nicklin — the special bonds that grow between people and dogs.
THE ACCIDENTAL SPURRT by Walt Pilcher is the first in his Mark Fairley, reluctant private investigator, series. In amongst the very Pilcheresque take on big business and the energy drinks industry, there is a story — little more than an aside — about a cartoon bloodhound. Melodie will not rest until she knows the truth behind it.
THE REALITY EXCHANGE by James Vigor stars a really cool character called Winter, content with life, a nice little niche carved out for herself — until she becomes a pawn in someone else’s game. It’s an excellent space adventure with the best take I’ve ever seen on future space travel. But Melodie is totally hung up on an incidental pixie in a jar.
There’s an unexpected mix of ancient archeology with space exploration in THE STAR PROTOCOL by Simon and Ramon Marett. It starts in the deserts of Iraq with two special forces soldiers and becomes a breakneck chase across the stars. Melodie however, is fixated upon knowing if those special forces soldiers’ training included learning to ride camels.
In the early 20th century with prohibition in full force, circumstances send protagonist Ruby on a dangerous journey from New Orleans to New York in THE WAGES OF DYING by Meghan Purvis. When a stranger smiles at Ruby, we all cringe — except Melodie, who becomes focused on knowing about the dog that had smiled with the same look; “all teeth and eyes”.
See You In September
Please sign up, join the fun, and come to MABLE in the autumn.
So Would You Like To Join In?
If any of you bloggers would like to interview any or all of the MABLE authors, to blog about them and their books over the summer — leave me a comment or a private message and I’ll put you in touch.
I might have crept quietly away from this prompt, much though it tempted me, but then I was tagged by Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, who always lives up to that tagline. On this occasion for me, it was the inclusion of guilt trips in her scheduling that made me laugh; and also, what a good idea!
I was also struck by this, from Amanda Laughtland who talked about “choosing a writing challenge that has meaning for you personally as a writer.” That struck a chord for me because that is exactly what this is.
Then Dennett joined in with this lovely take on the prompt — read this and live your life better!
So I really had no choice but to dive in.
How boring is it to have someone go on and on about something or someone they just fell in love with? That realisation that you’re trapped — should have gone out the back way, too late now — and of course, you’re happy for their happiness but you could have been just as happy from afar. But don’t blame me if you’ve sat through my love affair with MABLE. Blame Ellie Jacobson for giving me the opening to accost you in the corridor and pin back your ears with my starry-eyed account.
And I hope to see you and MABLE in the autumn!